This Is For The Outcasts
by ashleysays
Summary: After catching fire to her old house, setting out on a morbid adventure for a new home, and accidentally witnessing a raven-haired young man "doing the dirty" with her shop keeper, Sakura finds herself continually bumping into him in the strangest of places. And the fact that he seems keen on ruining her reputation does not help at all. RATED M for lemons, language, etc.
1. The Desperation

This Is For the Outcasts

Chapter 1: The Desperation

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_ An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind._

_ -Mahatma Gandhi_

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She stared at the wicker basket on the edge of her table, musing over what to use it for next. Perhaps holding ripe fruits? Or candles, or magazines- or just leave it empty in and of itself….there were so many possibilities for a basket such as the one she owned. Its medium sized, square opening was hugged by a white fabric tied around its edges to hold items in place and the wicker of the sides was just the right kind of russet tan- the kind of tan to bring a room together. It certainly did fit in nicely with her frayed mantelpiece and large bay windows. It was the basket that made the rug match the couch and loveseat almost adoringly. If not for the basket, she wouldn't know what to do. She would have had to buy entirely new living room furniture; she tapped her lips with a finger at the thought. So it was a relief to her that she had the basket. But no matter how much she adored the fine weaving of the bendable wood or the slight splintering of its rough texture, she knew that she could not stare at it any longer; because he was waiting for an answer. Even telling herself this, she decidedly continued to stare at her basket and ignore his existence- hoping that if she entreated hard enough with her lack of interest that he might take the hint and leave…unwanted visits did get old sometimes…

Empty. She decided to leave it empty. It really did well on its own, anyway, without anything else to aid its talent and stillness. Unusually still, even for an inanimate object. Except when she would sometimes enter the room and it would be moved a few inches into a crooked slouch. It happened so frequently lately that she did not know if it was moving on its own- choosing to only become so monotonously lifeless while she was in sight- or if it were simply the stable-boy being froward and clumsy as usual. Either way, she was not pleased.

But almost immediately after deciding to leave the lackadaisical thing bare, she tried to bring herself to change her mind yet again. Because he was still waiting for an answer and she had nothing else to stare at.

No matter how much she told herself that she should at least _acknowledge_ his question, she still couldn't bring herself to release the basket from her gaze. Until he moved it himself from the table, placing it out of her sight on the cold floor and sitting in the seat directly in her line of vision. She was forced to look at him, but she evaded his eyes- choosing instead to glare at his left shoulder. She attempted to set fire to his shirt with only the power of her stare but to no avail. She sighed. Nothing was working out, it seemed.

"Miss Haruno. I must implore you," he said again in his disgustingly worried tone, making her even more irritable than moments before. She would have liked it better if he were as uncaring and distant as the other collectors. "The only thing you can do now is sell your estate. The finances of this house are much too high for you alone to afford." He sighed, trying to make what he was saying sound less depressing and failing spectacularly.

The floorboards-

"Miss Haruno?" He leaned forward across the table. "Are you even listening?" a slight grumble came to his tone, becoming finally annoyed with her lack of acknowledgement as she stared blankly at the wood flooring.

-it was the floorboards that were the culprit here, she decided. It was the floorboards that did not match anything at all. The dark mahogany of the wood was at least two shades deeper than the other living room items. She glared at the brown dibbets of the foot-structure. It would have to go.

The man cleared his throat uncomfortably and shifted in the seat. The floorboards creaked slightly under the weight. Yes, they would have to go. "Miss Haruno."

"Yes?" And the fireplace, as well, she noted silently. It was far too large to make friendly with the bay windows. How were the windows supposed to make an impact if the fireplace was outshining everything? It just _wasn't_ going to work out, she sighed. The fireplace would have to go as well. Perhaps one with smaller stones would look better, but she was getting ahead of herself-

"Do you understand?" he straightened again now that he was sure she wasn't having some kind of fit. "You must sell by the end of the week if you want to have any hopes of keeping this estate standing. If not, the Governess will have to demolish it for whoever buys the land…"

-Yes, she was getting ahead of herself. None of these things could be changed until she did something about the appalling walls. The off-white wallpaper just did not want to cooperate with the wicker basket at all. It would all have to go. All of it would have to be replaced. Except for the basket. The basket was the only remarkable thing in the whole house.

"I understand perfectly, Mr. Tuna-"

"It's Tana-"

"Yes, of course, Mr. Tana," she slipped her gaze to the drapery of the bay windows, eyes narrowing slightly at their lack-luster apparel. "But I don't think _you_ understand."

From the corner of her eye she saw as he tilted his head to the side, raising his glossy lids over his beady eyes. Eyes that reminded her slightly of the beaded embroidery of the tablecloth. Her gaze found homage on the material lying oh so innocently on the wooden table before her. The beads were not the right shade of white to match the fabric of the basket. They were almost offendingly simple. "I'm afraid I don't understand what you mean, Miss Haruno?" he questioned, somewhat disturbed by her indifferent posture.

"That is what I am saying, Mr. Tuna," she took a long sip of her tea, ignoring his tightening frown. "You simply do not understand. I do not want the estate to remain standing." She set down her cup and reached for a small sheet of paper, folding it intriquitely to pass the time until a neatly crafted paper crane stood in her hands. She piled it with the other cranes on the table in front of the empty seat next to her, cursing Tana under her breath for interrupting her crafts earlier. She didn't have nearly as many done as she had planned to by that time of day.

He didn't answer and remained staring at her, so she took the moment to sip her tea some more and glare at the chandelier overhead. Its crystal faucets were clanking together in what sounded suspiciously like the crescendo of Tchaikovsky's Overture. It always enjoyed playing her least favorite tunes. Or perhaps she merely imagined it out of desperation- though the conversation had taken a pitfall towards seriousness, because there was no denying the gravity of the situation- she was becoming quite bored with the pompous collectors' constant visits.

"So you want me to turn over the land for the Governess to sell?" he half-questioned in a strange way. She tried to explain the way in which he did it, but gave up after a moment when even this did not adequately fill her quota of excitement. Boring, indeed.

"No, of course not," She droned on in the most unladylike fashion she could muster which earned her a raised brow from the scrawny man. "I am merely saying that I do not wish for the estate to stand. It is simple comprehension," she laid the cup back to the tray after deciding she had adequately insulted his intelligence for the moment, clanking it a little more loudly than necessary and ruffling the thick folds of her dress around her lap. Another inescapable sigh and glare at the brooding furniture until he graced her with a wavering reply.

"Either you are going to sell the estate, or the Governess will," he hadn't touched his tea, she noticed. It steamed, lonely and forgotten, on the small platter before his seated form. Her ear itched- she took the initiative, reaching up to scratch the offending skin. "Your little word games aren't going to change the fact that your Grandmother has passed away and you cannot uphold this land on your own."

"Mr. Tuna," She sighed out his makeshift name a little too exaggeratedly and enjoyed how his frown deepened, almost becoming a scowl in the bright lighting of the clanking chandelier overhead. Did he think as well that its tune was a little too fast to adequately mimick Tchaikovsky's Overture? Because she certainly thought so. If it was going to annoy her it could at least have the courtesy of properly doing it. If it slowed into something closer to Beethoven, perhaps she would have liked the useless thing better; but it continued to clank raucously, much to her dismay. "I am aware of the ramifications," she seemed to be sighing a lot lately. "You can do as you like. You can even tell the Governess whatever you will; either way, the estate will be taken care of within the end of this week. I can assure you of that, at least." He seemed wary of her, she noticed. Perhaps the rumors around town that she was the estranged granddaughter of the late Hatayo Haruno had gotten to him. She did not deny that her antics could scrape the surface of appearing strange and unusual- perhaps even mentally unstable. Or perhaps he was merely seeing why the other collectors refused to visit her anymore. Her attitude towards them was probably childish, she admitted ruefully, but it wasn't completely uncalled for. After all, their comfort did not matter to her in the slightest- so playing coy just was not in her repertoire. If the town wanted to think of her as giddy and estranged, so be it. It wasn't as if it would matter much longer since it seemed that she would be finding a different place to live (sooner rather than later).

It wasn't a moment later when he scoffed and stomped through the house, shutting the door loudly behind him and not even bothering to pick the basket off of the floor and replace it in its position on the table. It must have been something she said. But the more pressing issue was the untouched tea still staring at her from Tana's now empty seat at the table. She leaned to grab it, sipping it down before it could cool anymore and looking around some more at the unattractive settings. The tea set would have to be removed as well. She didn't fancy it at all. In fact, all of the china in the estate was not up to par with her expectations-

"Maybe you shouldn't scare off all of the collectors?" the stable-boy rounded a corner, itching the back of his head in a familiar way. She didn't have to look at him to know he was doing it- she was too busy scrutinizing one particular thread in the rug under the love-seat to her left. With the light shining the way it was through the bay windows, the rays of the setting sun cast a perfect angle for her to realize how uneven the one thread was compared to the rest. "I would like to keep at least a semblance of dignity, ya' know. If everyone ends up thinking you're…well…" he acted as if the word 'weird' was dirty. He continued on without breaching the subject. It would only become a one sided conversation- him, lecturing her on pretending to be interested in common banter over tea, and her, ignoring him in favor of finding something else in the house to brood over.

"_You_ don't think I'm crazy- and that's all that really matters." She sipped the drink again, trying to see through the table to the basket still lying on the cold floor. Her voice echoed into the cup as it tipped dramatically towards the incline of her lips.

"That's just because I've been forced to know you since childhood," he grumbled under his breath, not caring if she heard his playful banter or not. Yes, she could count on him to understand that she was merely bored, not strange. Perhaps unusual, though. She took pride in such qualities. She was sure it was the stress of her unnatural behavior that caused the death of her late grandmother, Hatayo. The old woman had spent her entire life trying to suppress her…unique attributes. So it was safe to say that she didn't particularly care much for the woman or her long-forgotten death (even if she only died the month before, Sakura was determined to pretend as if Hatayo had never existed). She and Hatayo had, without a doubt, been at each other's throats since the first time they had met. The only person who could appreciate her certain kind of genius, in her opinion, was her stable-boy, Naruto.

"Naruto," she addressed the man, turning to him and seeing that, indeed, he _was_ scratching the back of his head after all. "Do something for me." It was a question, but came out as an order- a nasty habit she had picked up from Hatayo while speaking to maids. But Naruto did not take offense; he was used to it considering he had worked under the Haruno family his entire life.

"Hm?" he questioned lamely, stooping to pick up the lonely basket and placing it in the spot he knew it belonged. She threw him a thankful smile before hiding her face in the tea cup once again. A loud sipping could be heard before she went on.

"Tell all the maids to go home. They can have the rest of the day off," his scratching hand stilled in confusion, or perhaps appall. She tried to explain this to herself as well but became more interested in the jingling of the chandelier again before she could come to a reasonable conclusion as to what his expression determined. "And move all of the horses from the stables to the fields across the road. Make sure they are tied to the posts; I don't want them getting scared and running off."

"Getting scared of what?" his brows furrowed when he chose to dislike her reasoning before she even gave him a reason. "What are you up to, Sakura?"

"Nothing, of course," she appealed, trying to act nonchalant but remembered with unimpressed candor that she already had been. "Have a little faith, would you?" she arched dramatically into the chair to show her dismay in his lack of trust.

"I know you better than that!" he yelled over his shoulder as he sauntered from the room and into the hall, shutting the French doors behind him lightly. "Whatever it is you're up to, make sure you don't get too carried away!" He ordered, his voice was muffled by the closed door and she pretended not to hear it, grabbing another sheet of paper from stack next to the wicker basket and the lit candles in the center of the table. The wax circumstantially sputtered onto the white lace fabric of the antique tablecloth, but she paid it no heed. The flames did nothing but make the beaded embroidery of it look even more foreboding. She had to swallow down the rising disinterest.

She hummed lightly to herself, assembling the paper bird and studying its form. It was slightly pinched at the neck, appearing half-way decapitated, but it would have to do. It joined the others in the pile, followed by more until she became frustrated with all of the birds in her living room.

The ticking and tocking of the old clock in the corner piqued her interest for a moment until she decided that its hands were a little too slender to pass for appropriate. The tea was cold. And the rug in her peripheral vision had become slightly annoying and not at all as fascinating at the wicker basket. She could no longer see the one bastard thread of the rug sticking up a millimeter longer than all of the other threads but she knew it was still there in the shadows of the setting sun, staring challengingly at her. Coaxing her.

She blinked, grabbing more sheets and assembling a small battalion of paper dogs and snakes to battle the cranes. There was no telling which would win. It was one of those dubious things that would take a lucky guess and maybe a little cheating in order to understand.

The sun had set and the chandelier continued jingling. She could hear the horses whinnying across the dirt road three hundred feet in front of the estate and the sounds of the maids were gone, leading her to the conclusion that Naruto had accomplished his simple task.

She placed the paper dogs on the East battlefront of the table, facing the snakes in the West. The cranes were harder to station. She spent a few hundred ticks of the old clock to decide, until settling with the Northeast section where the beaded embroidery of the tablecloth was less in number. It gave them an advantage- an advantage that they needed since their numbers were less than the other battalions'. She smiled at her work, admiring how the light of the candles glinted off their sharp edges. But there was something missing, she crooned, frowning deeply.

No, this would not do. This just simply would not work, she scolded herself a little too harshly. She sat back and stared at the battle before her until she could muster up the answer. "Sakura," Naruto's voice sounded from outside the French door, knocking lightly and a little worried. "The horses are all tied in the prairie." His voice held a little hint of stubborn ruefulness. She guessed because he couldn't' decipher why she had asked him to do such things. No matter, he would find out shortly, she reasoned to herself. When she didn't answer, he walked down the hallway and out the front door from where he had come. She could almost hear his stable-boots through the window, kicking up dirt as he trekked back across the road to the horses assembled there.

He might have been stubborn, but he was loyal to her- even if she wasn't the most emotionally stable. He knew he couldn't say no to her order, no matter how much he knew he wouldn't like the outcome of it in the end. Because there was no getting around it, he would definitely not like what she was going to do. But, furthermore, he complied like a soldier to his general-

A soldier. That was what was missing, she beamed at the realization and crafted a quick paper figure of an armed soldier, placing him at the center of the battalions- all facing each other, ready for battle to ensue.

The suspense was terrible. She wanted to make it last, but knew that time was not on her side. The ticking of the clock kept reminding her. Oh, yes, it would all have to go. None of it fit, except for the basket, of course. The basket was the _only_ redeeming thing.

When she lifted the armed soldier to the candle, encouraging the end of his masculine gun to catch flame and setting him back in the middle of the chaotic papers, she knew she had made the right decision.

It had been while she was sleeping that the idea came to her, how most great ideas do. When she woke was when it became more than an idea- a _plan, _an _action. _It was a mere inkling at first, but grew into something fierce when the desperation kicked in. And it was the desperation, and nothing else, that made her do what she did. No matter how depraved or masochistic or just plain _wrong_ it was, she decided that she would have to do it- because she had no other way out and everything to lose. The collectors or the Governess were not planning on backing down, nor was she.

Desperation was a funny thing. Maybe even more strange than boredom. She was certainly more inclined to boredom. She knew how to handle boredom much better, so she felt obliged to refer to her desperate act as criminal and perhaps illogical, but she still felt it was the better decision to just set fire to it all. Except for the basket.

"What did you do?" Naruto flung his arms wildly in the air, running to her side by the prairie and eying the wicker in her arms. The horses jumped and kicked the dirt under their hooves, making it airborne in their fright.

"Did you really think I would let anyone else have this house?" she intoned, watching the flames engulf the wooden structure of the estate with the too dark shade of mahogany wood. It certainly was the best way, she thought. None of it matched her wicker crate. It was the only sensible thing to do.

And the small amount of money they would make by selling the horses would fund them for her next idea, once she made sure it all burned correctly. "I told you not to get carried away!" he ingeminated in his familiar, high-toned banter. She ignored it. He would be back to his usual, cheery self once the initial shock wore off, so she proceeded to watch the battle before her. There was no telling who had won, but she would put her money on the cranes. They had the advantage, after all.


	2. The Audaciousness

This Is For the Outcasts

Chapter 2: The Audacity

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_What we see depends mainly on what we look for.  
-John Lubbock_

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She could feel something deep in her brain doing things- a vein popping, perhaps. She hoped it was the trauma from Naruto's loud complaints and not the heat of the sultry night air. "Couldn't ya' have decided to burn the house down in the _morning_, Sak?" he paced back and forth behind the row of horses in the prairie, throwing his hands in the air as if it would make his argument even more important. "I mean, seriously!" He had been acting such since her brilliant house-maneuver, and telling him that she planned on leaving the town altogether didn't make him want to warm up to her any better.

Did no one appreciate her genius? She scoffed at his implications. Of course she _could_ have chosen to do that, but she didn't. This was the best way. Even if they didn't have anywhere to sleep and the apoplectic heat of the summer night was almost too much for them to bear... "Eugh!" the blond man slumped against the back legs of one particularly dark brown stallion, swiping the back of his hand across his steaming forehead. "And what are you going to do about your fiancé? What about when he finds out what you have done?" he began to rant again, causing more exertion which only brought more sweat to his brow. "I mean, he knows how cuckoo your little ideas can be," he flicked the side of his own skull for emphasis. "But they're usually something along the lines of playfulness- not arson!"

"The key word here, Naruto, is _fiancé._ He's not my husband, which means that I can still do whatever I want... So, I am leaving this town. We are never going to see any of these people _ever _again. And _you_ are coming with me," He hung his head, knowing he could not argue. "Besides, my _fiancé _is what I would like to call an immature jackass, Naruto, and I refuse to marry anything less than a _man._"It was only minutes before sunrise but the loud blond had forbidden her from any rest on the cooling grass, deciding instead to keep up his steady stream of curses and accusations- directed mainly at her- until the early hours of morning.

But when the sun _did_ rise and Naruto herded the horses together outside the town's main square, she went her own way, cruising through the throngs of passers-bye until she came to the cozy entrance of a narrow door and ignoring the scorned looks she received from the other townspeople. Maybe because she burnt down the house that had been a part of the town since it was founded one hundred years ago, but who knew. It could have been for an entirely different reason, of course.

She could hear Naruto's loud shouts from a few streets over, promising customers a good buy. He had been going on all night about how improbable it was to sell all of the horses today but he didn't factor in the fact that the townspeople didn't particularly like them- which could have gone both ways. But, while Naruto would have seen this as more reason to abandon all hope, she saw it as confirmation of their luck so far. Because the townspeople would probably try their best to purchase every horse they needed to sell, just so they could get rid of Sakura and Naruto quicker.

It was completely understandable and she didn't harbor any ill will towards them for it. Perhaps they were a little too harsh with Naruto, for he hadn't done anything to deserve their scorn (except for a few pranks and some tasteful graffiti when he was younger). She knew, on the other hand, that she deserved it. Actually, she wanted it. It was the only way she could give herself enough of an excuse to leave. If the people had accepted her and her unusual tendencies, Naruto wouldn't have let her make this choice of going. He would have made her build the house again just for punishment. But he couldn't argue this time because he didn't want anyone else to own that house either. He knew as well, deep down inside, that what she did was for the best.

The door was cracked open a little, prompting her to only assume that it was open for business. The first thing she needed to do before checking on Naruto was to sell the retched dress she was wearing and purchase some appropriate riding attire. If she was going to be horse-backing for God only knew how long, she would need the right clothes. She wondered idly if she should have grabbed her own riding clothes before setting the fire, saving herself from all of this unnecessary trouble. But as least she had her basket. She could only hope that Naruto kept it safe for her until she returned in a few minutes. Even so, she was nervous about it being so far away- even for one moment.

She could imagine a little too clearly Naruto holding its smashed form out to her in apology. She shuddered at the mental image and prayed that it be kept safe. After all, it was the only thing she owned anymore, apart from her name and maybe the few morals she thought were necessary enough to keep a loose hold on.

The door frame creaked weakly as she stepped in, re-reading the sign on the window that stated: "Buy or sell here." Short, sweet and to-the-point, she mused wondrously. The counter by the entrance was empty, which she found slightly strange, but there were so many strange things going on the in the town lately that she had no room for complaints. After all, with all of the weird things she had done in her own life, leaving a cash register unattended seemed almost pious.

"Hello," she called meekly, not really expecting anyone to answer. And none came.

She found her own way to a rack of potential fabrics, skewing through the compilation of colors until she found one pleasing enough. Though, black was not a color, she had to remind herself with a slight giggle at the audacity. She would certainly be given even more strange looks and lectures from Naruto with such a color. Black on a Lady was unbecoming in society. _But_, she thought to herself with a sneaky grin. _I _am _supposed to be in mourning, after all,_ she continued, thinking back to Hatayo's death only a month before. With that, she yanked the black fabrics off of the rack with revived vigor.

She turned back to the register, deciding to wait patiently for a moment until a clerk came to bargain with her. Perhaps she could swindle her way through the whole thing and get back to Naruto sooner than she thought, she hoped quickly. But after almost five minutes of waiting, her foot began to tap freely against the cheap wood of the front counter. She looked around, glancing back and forth from the register to the changing rooms and wondering if she should wait or just try them on herself. After only a moment's hesitation, she quickly leaned over the small clerk's booth and grabbed a set of keys lying on the countertop then made her way through a door on the back wall of the shop where the dressing rooms were sure to be held. The door was held open by a cinderblock, keeping the breeze from outside filtering through the building and when she found the dressing room doors all lined next to each other she made her way to the one closest to her, placing the key in the lock and fiddling quietly with the knob. When she made it to the fifth door without any luck, she was beginning to think that perhaps the keys didn't go to the dressing doors after all. In fact, they didn't even match any of the silver knobs. They keys were a strange blue tint of what felt like marble, as if they were carved out of a strange stone by hand.

She shook her head, ignoring the strange thought and adjusting the black clothes she held over her arm. She fiddled again with the key and placed it at the mouth of the silver knob's lock but the slight pressure from her push brought the door open without her even needing to unlock it. She smiled to herself in victory, pushing the door open while fiddling again with the clothes on her arm, trying to assemble the keys without dropping anything; but when she looked up she found herself at the threshold of the small room's entrance. The walls were thick wood, allowing no noise to filter through, and the tall mirror on the wall opposite from her almost extended from ceiling to floor. But what caught her attention more was the man leaning against the glass of the mirror almost obnoxiously.

When he noticed her entrance, his attention turned up to meet gazes with her wide, peridot eyes. His own lids were at half-mast and hazy as an arrogant smirk found his lips. He tilted his head, studying her from waist to hair and not moving from his lazy posture, leaning upon the glass with his hands hanging in his pockets. She tried to study him as well (the strong set of his jaw and his unimaginably dark eyes or the lipstick smudged on his white collar) but her gaze was cut off too soon by the woman kneeling before him (the woman who Sakura guessed was the owner of the shop), her hands greedily fumbling with the button of his black pants until they were undone, hanging loosely from his hips.

It took her a moment of staring confusedly between the amused man and oblivious women before Sakura understood what she had walked in on. The realization gleamed in her horrified eyes as she stared back to the man, hoping he would tell her she was wrong and it definitely was not what it looked like. His hand morphed out of his pocketing and found its way to the woman's jaw, bringing her up to stand before him before he hungrily attacked her mouth with his own, staring dominatingly over the woman's shoulder to Sakura; whether he was challenging her to run away or join in, Sakura did not know. But she couldn't seem to find out how to make her feet move before the man pushed the older-looking woman to the unbraced wall- the thick wood gave in a little as the sudden pressure accosted it, creating a loud banging noise to filter through the hall of dressing rooms. He attacked her again, her neck exposed to his slightly parted lips and her head thrown back with eyes pinched shut as his hand trailed through the thick skirting of her dress to move it out of the way. It was all so fast that Sakura knew what was happening, but at the same time it was so forbidden and _real_ that she didn't know what to do with herself. And the man didn't seem to care much about her presence. If anything, he enjoyed it. He taunted the Haruno woman again with a heated glance as he bit down harshly on the shopkeeper's shoulder. The woman gasped, bucking her hips lightly as Sakura watched his unseen hands move against the woman under the folds of her skirt's dressings.

His eyes were like a wolf, daring and thwarting her simultaneously until she didn't know if she was standing there because she was too afraid to move (the woman hadn't noticed her yet and she surely did not want to make any sudden movements that would get herself caught) or if she was simply struck dumb by the _audacity_ of it all. Who did he think he was? Who was he to think himself righteous enough to come into _her_ town and do such a private thing in plain sight? Surely, she would not be able to simply ignore something like this and she was afraid that it would haunt her dreams for at least a month! The nerve of the man! She threw him a glare as she tried to uproot herself from her spot, but he was not paying attention.

He hoisted the shopkeeper woman up against the wall, bracing himself against her hips to keep her in place while his hands held her legs bruisingly, forcing them enough apart to accommodate his own hips with a grunt. His jeans which were already loosened by the woman's earlier ministrations fell a little more in the couple's hasty actions, hanging loosely a few inches off his hips and leaving a slight sliver of pale skin open for the pink haired voyeur's gaze to hungrily take in. The woman braced herself against him, slithering her arms to his shoulders and grasping hard to the hair at the nape of his neck as his hips thrust forward in success with another throaty groan mixed with the woman's gasps for air.

The Haruno woman had never seen such raw, unadulterated intensity between two people in her life, and hadn't intended to until she was married (which was expected by a Lady). But the secret need for nihilism in her heart brought a rise of curiosity and fascination to her chest that bubbled forth until she couldn't watch anymore. It was getting a little too intense and, even if she did consider herself a rebel-without-a-cause, Sakura would not deny that this was a little out of her league. It was _too_ foreign; too forbidden.

His hips thrust again, the banging of the woman's back roughly against the thick wood sounded once more, picking up speed as the man moved harshly and quickly against her- and Sakura ran. She ran, hoping the woman wouldn't spot her retreating back and hair color- hoping that Naruto had sold the horses so they could leave the town as quickly as possible; she wouldn't live through meeting him again. It was too embarrassing, even if he didn't seem to mind or even be embarrassed of his own dirty actions. _The nerve_, she fumed, running through the concourse of the shop to the entrance- the banging of the wall and the woman's erratic moaning followed the Haruno out onto the street until the door shut behind her. _In a public place! If I ever see him again…_ But she hoped she wouldn't. She _really_ hoped she would never see him again.

She ran as fast as her feet would move across the rough dirt of the village road, her curled pink hair flowing behind her and forgetting that she still held the clothes in her arms, unpaid for and now stolen. The blue, strangely marble key jingled in her fingers as she side-stepped through the crown until she reached Naruto in the main square. The blond man studied her hunched over, gasping form for a moment before commenting in a way that could only be described as utterly _Naruto-esque._

"Uhhh…." Before he turned away and decided to just mind his own business. Frankly, he didn't wanna' know what kind of trouble she had gotten herself into this time.


	3. The Searching

I do not own Naruto.  
And I hope you guys enjoy the little drunken song I made :)

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This Is For the Outcasts

The Searching

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_You can clutch the past so tightly to your chest that it leaves your arms too full to embrace the present.  
-Jan Glidewell_

* * *

After Sakura had changed into her riding attire (a dark shirt and black leggings with riding boots), she and Naruto had counted the money then made their way on the road, passing the town by without much candor. Her old dress and everything else that she had bundled in her arms after the incident at the shop was stuffed securely into the ruck-sack on either side of her horse's flanks.

"Good riddance!" she called over her shoulder to the town growing further and further away with each step they took, holding up an arm of farewell behind her.

"Tell me again why we only kept one horse when there are two of us?" Naruto grumbled at her side, walking the path next to her and kicking up dirt in his internal laments.

"Because we have more money from selling all of the horses- except for this one," she pointed out, sitting highly atop her stallion and looking down on the top of his brightly colored hair. "I wouldn't dream of selling you, Marquis." She spoke in a baby voice to the horse she sat upon, bending and nuzzling her face lovingly into the hair of its neck and patting its side with her palm.

After a moment of awkward silence, Naruto spoke up, clenching his stomach with one hand and a large frown adorning his childish face. "Uhhh," he started. "Sakura?"

"Hm?" she seemed distant in thoughts, smiling lightly to herself and the sky. Her wicker basket was perched carefully on the side of the ruck-sack, cradled there by straps to hold it in place. _The safest place for it_, Sakura had said before they left Carmel only a few hours before. He looked back behind them again toward the very town he was thinking about. He could still see the large buildings; they hadn't made very much progress and weren't as far as he thought they would be by then.

He clenched his stomach tighter and, as if in response, it growled louder than before. Sakura gave him a slightly agitated glance, probably already guessing what he was going to say before he even said it. "Can we find something to eat?"

She let out a loud "Uug!" noise, scaring a few crows from the dirt path in front of them to scurry into the air. "The next town is only two miles up the road, Naruto!" she looked down on him again and tried to steady her resolve; but, damn, it was hard to say no to that face.

"I know, but I'm sooo hungry!" he whined, throwing his arms out and looking to some unknown, greater power in the sky for help.

"I am, too. But I want to get as far away from Carmel as possible. If we are going to find a new home, I want it to be somewhere where Carmel hasn't even been heard of." She said, showing just how much disdain she had for her home-town.

"Do you even know where we're going?" he raised a pale brow and scanned her with a bright, ocean blue gaze.

"No." she didn't seem very troubled by that fact either, he noted. "But, when I see it, I'll know it. A home is a place that makes you feel welcome in your heart!" she said the last sentence a little too dramatically, as if she were auditioning for some play.

His stomach growled again and, after a little more forwarding from him, she was annoyed enough to agree and stop in the next town- even though she was not happy with the prospect of being so close to Carmel after what she had witnessed only three hours before.

Her eyes were still itching with surprise and appall.

* * *

The neighboring town was called Four Crossings, which she didn't think was a very creative name at all. But what it lacked in title, it made up for in muster. Carmel didn't have carnivals or theatres or even recreational parks (mostly because each resident was nothing but dull, rusty aristocrats with nothing better to do than spend money they didn't need and gossip behind each other's backs). But Four Crossings was the complete opposite, it seemed. Sakura only hoped that each town they went to would be better than the last because they were short on time and wouldn't be able to partake in the Four Crossings festivities.

And, she had to admit, she carried a slight trepidation with her as she entered with Naruto to find that the civilian population consisted mainly of blacksmiths, engineers, gypsies, or farmers. She was sure that Naruto would fit right in, but she was nothing to these people other than someone they could rob, given the chance.

But Naruto had led her to a quiet bar with rickety tables and lopsided chairs- she could already see the state of dilapidation in which the building was suited and she hadn't even stepped inside yet. And they hadn't been hassled by any of the townspeople so far. She took that as a good sign, or maybe it was because she was with Naruto. The blond boy wasn't much at first glance, but he held an air about him that warned against any disobedience (even if he _was_ just her stable boy).

Naruto rustled up the ruck-sack, throwing it over his back to bring with them inside and making sure not to harm the wicker basket strapped to it, and tied the horse's reins to the post allotted outside the first window of the tavern. He walked in like he knew his way around already, choosing a booth in the far corner with leather, ripped seats and beer stains on the wooden table.

"What does a place like this even cook?" Sakura asked but wasn't answered as Naruto riffled through the ruck-sack, searching for the money in its confusing folds and confines. He pulled out the small wad of cash, opening its curled form to count it again and make sure it was all there; but as soon as he opened it, a blue object fell from inside the bundle of paper onto the floor with a sharp clattering noise.

They both leaned slowly over the edge of the table, looking to the floor and staring at the strange blue object.

"What do you think it is?" Naruto's utterly stupid question clattered to her hears even more annoyingly than the object had, as if he was talking about some strange new species of reptile instead of the marble thing on the floor.

"It's obviously a key, you imbecile. What else could it possibly be?" She bent to grab it, feeling its smooth texture again and marveling at its hand-crafted shape. It must have taken its owner a long time to make, which meant it was probably for opening something valuable… _I wonder_, she thought but didn't get to finish.

"Where did it come from?" Naruto snatched it out of her hand as fast as lightning, feeling it as well with a goofy smile on his face. "It sure is pretty."

"How am I supposed to know where it came from?" Sakura leaned back, trying to read the small print of the menu on the wall. The awkward scrawl of whoever wrote it was impressively sloppy and she couldn't decide whether the fifth word was "egg soup" or "bug soup."

"It was in _your_ bag, so you _should_ know…" he didn't look up from the key, rubbing it against his skin. It was rare to find things so well-made and the marble itself was a kind she had never seen before.

She wished Naruto was stupider sometimes. Then he wouldn't be able to ask questions that she didn't want to answer.

"I found it in the shop, okay?" she shrugged, trying to convince him that it wasn't a big deal, but he was already giving her a hard look. "I didn't mean to take it, though, honestly," she tried to convince again but he didn't seem to be buying it. "It was an accident." She didn't like the way he seemed to think poorly of her with his 'holier than thou' expression, but his face evened out after a second and he slid the key across the wooden tabletop to her.

"Then why didn't you bring it back to the shop when you realized you had taken it?" he raised a brow and she cursed whichever deity had chosen _now_ of all times to give Naruto common sense.

"Believe it or not, Naruto, there are some things that even I can't fathom," she picked up the marble structure and shoved it into the side-pocked hidden in her boot. Yes, there were definitely things she would rather not try to understand (such as: why someone would have public sex in a dressing room, why they would be okay with the fact that they were caught doing it, and why the guy immediately struck her as someone she needed to avoid).

Naruto ordered the special, whatever it was. Sakura hadn't been listening, but she copied quickly and ordered the same thing before the waitress could leave to fetch it.

Naruto sighed loudly, resting his cheek on his fist and looking lazily at her. "At least we won't be arrested for what you've done since we won't be anywhere near Carmel soon." He perked up when he admitted this, finding light in a dark situation.

"I wouldn't be too sure about that," Sakura fingered the hard key through the strong fabric of her boot. She could barely make out the shape of it, but she could imagine its smoothness just as well. It still wasn't as impressive as her wicker basket, but it was lovely all the same- just in a different way. It had a certain personality to it that was almost the complete opposite of her basket (as if it reflected the personality of the person who owned it). She found herself growing quickly attached to the strange thing.

Naruto seemed worried about something; she concentrated on his curious expression instead, forcing herself to remove her fingers from the object's veiled form. "Huh?" she asked, trying to remember what he had said to her while she wasn't listening.

"I said, what do you mean by "I wouldn't be too sure about that?"" he glared, not liking the idea of being so close to any approaching trouble.

"I meant exactly what I said." Sakura explained rudimentarily, giving the waitress a small nod when the food arrived. Ramen…she should have known. "Why do you think I want to get so far away from Carmel as soon as possible?" she asked, like it was obvious. She had forgotten how ignorant the Uzumaki boy could be. She decided to save herself the time and explain it to him slowly. "The governess won't be back in Carmel until the end of the week. Then she'll learn about what has happened and she'll most likely send someone to arrest us- even if it was me who did it and you were completely ignorant to what was happening."

"But that's not fair!"

"Life isn't fair, Naruto. And you're my family's employee. You work for me, so that makes you an accomplice….at least, that's what they'll try and say. Don't forget, people like them _want_ to put people like us in jail because they are frightened by anyone who is different. They don't like change- especially if it is some girl who goes off the deep-end and burns a historical land-mark to the ground then runs away with her stable-boy…" she could see that he was starting to put it together. It sounded even worse when she said it out loud. It was unheard of and the Governess would not want the story of their actions to reach any other towns. Carmel would be the laughing-stock of the kingdom.

And for the first time in a long time, Naruto was silent.

Sakura wasn't sure if he was having a fit or something, but she was about to slap him back to reality until a young male voice from the entrance of the bar filtered into the room. She and Naruto both turned their attentions toward the ruckus to find a gangly teen with light brown hair running to the table beside them, waving a newspaper high in his hand above his head. He threw the paper on the table, huddling in on himself and gasping for air. "He's been sighted!" he yelled and everyone seemed to take more interest than they should, crowds of men and women from outside and surrounding seats came to assemble around the frantic boy. He opened the paper to a certain page and held it up to the crowd circling him, rotating it so every man, woman, and barkeep could see.

"Casanova?" one woman gasped after reading the headline, smirking behind her hand and putting a palm to her neck as if overheated. It would have been comical if Sakura wasn't so confused. Naruto shifted awkwardly in his seat, obviously knowing what has happening.

"Casanova has been caught?" a man agemate to the gangly teen barged into the bar as well, making his way swiftly to join into the conversation.

"Not caught. Just sighted," the waitress said, just as engrossed in the new information as the others. The bartender immediately broke away from the liquor rack, walking to the small table and picking up the paper, reading silently to himself while the others continued spreading the information back and forth along with hypothesis of what was going to happen and where Casanova would probably be sighted next.

"Do you think he'll come here?" an old woman from the table behind her fingered her walking stick, her voice cold and filled with disdain- obviously not liking this "Casanova" character one bit.

"I certainly hope so," the woman from before who had been smirking behind her hand said and the whole crowd filled with fits of giggles and laughter.

"You women are incorrigible!"

Another round of high-pitched laughter.

"What does the article say?" one man asked the bartender who had finished reading and set the paper back into the hands of the young boy with a knowing expression. His face turned from relaxed to strained, then turned red for a moment.

Sakura wondered if he was choking, but he soon burst out in the loudest laughter of all, face turning back to its regular shade of tan that was close to Naruto's own. "People claim to have spotted him near a monastery in Pilikia town!"

A ghasp. "That's not far from here!"

"Those nuns didn't stand a chance!" Howling guffawing took over every patron of the room, including Naruto. Sakura seemed to be the only one out of the loop.

"Who _does_ stand a chance?"

"Who would fight against him, anyway?"

"It's a good thing you didn't send your daughter to that monastery, after all!" one man hollered, patting the man he was talking to on the shoulder roughly.

"What's going on?" Sakura, finally giving in, leaned to Naruto. She tried to speak over the laughter but it died down unexpectantly "Who's Casanova?" her voice was loud in the newly silent room.

Time stood still as everyone looked to her with wide eyes, as if she were some relic to behold.

"Who's _Casanova_?" one particularly skittish man sitting at the table next to them turned to her. His voice was thick in an accent close to British and he slurred most of his words together, setting his large mug down with a clack. The thick lager spilled out and onto the table, staining a ring around the base of the mug onto the old wood. "'Ave ya' been livin' unda' a rock, girlie?"

"_Every_body knows who Casanova is." One woman explained from the bar, drying a clear glass with her rag and setting it aside to bend over the counter toward Sakura. Her corset was low and her chest bubbled forth provocatively from her bust line. "He's the master of the maidenhead." She explained.

"The barbarian of virgin babes…" one other man from the gathering around her intoned and the nicknames for the stranger seemed to spark the crowd to life again. A babble of shouted aliases reached her, jumbling together in symphony.

"Tha' outlaw in black!" The man with the strange accent slurred out, grinning at her with the few teeth that still remained.

"The gallant lover from Theiv town."

"He slips into your room at night," one young man, holding his own mug in hand, swooshed his arm through the air to try and show how the "outlaw in black" would slip into the room, but it ended up looking like his swooshing arm was pretending to be a bird instead. "And ravishes you until dawn! It's no skin off his back!"

"No virgin is safe while Casanova is still alive! He'll seduce and satiate every respectable maiden in his grasp!"

"I've heard that the king is signing approvals for his death and the royal guard is on the search for him as we speak! He'll hang by the neck when they find him!"

"_If_ they can find him!"

The bartender hushed the crowd and turned to the pink-headed young mademoiselle, leaning back to sit against the edge of the table and lighting a cigar. "The only way for you to know Casanova is by hearing a story," he said and had to hush the excited crowd again when they cheered. Naruto leaned in, ecstatic. "Once, there was a young maiden by the name of Valary Hale," his voice deepened in the throes of imagination, painting the picture for the surrounding people to see. More curious people stepped in from the street to hear as well, sitting on the floor when the seats and tables were all taken. "You see, Lady Hale was a beauty. Everyone had heard of her. And her adoptive father's name was Magnus Barthen- he was the wealthiest man in the kingdom, aside from the royal family." He puffed the cigar, sending smoke into the air between them and drawing figures into the dark cloud it created.

"But Magnus was a cruel and selfish man. When Valary was only a few months away from turning sixteen and was of age to marry, he commissioned five architects to construct an entirely new mansion for her out of pure blue marble- the most beautiful thing you would ever see!" he declared and Sakura fingered the marble key in her boot pocket again unwittingly. "When the house was finished, Magnus brought the girl into the house and kept her away in a room with iron barred windows so that she would never be acquainted with the sin and perversions of the outside world." Sakura didn't know where the guy was going with the story and she didn't see how this had anything to do with Casanova, but she continued to listen impatiently. "The girl remained in her lovely prison for months, never leaving its walls except with Magnus," he threw the cigar to the floor, stepping on it. It sizzled and the smoke stopped once it was out. "On the week before her sixteenth birthday, Magnus went in secret to the priest in the accompanying town and purchased a marriage certificate, pledging to marry Valary himself because no other man would be worthy enough of such a pure soul. But what Magnus didn't know was that Valary was not as ignorant as he had thought." The men in the crowd giggled and the old woman in the table with her walking stick scoffed.

"You see, that night," he began again. "Magnus came back home with the priest to make the arrangements and have the girl sign the certificate, but she was not there. Her room was bare of her belongings and the iron bars of her window here un-bolted from the outside."

"Who could have done that?" Sakura whispered, leaning forward, just as engrossed in the story as Naruto. Her head tilted in curiosity.

"Casanova." Naruto answered to himself in just as quiet of a whisper.

"That's right, my boy," the bartender stood, swaying his arms dramatically as he continued with the tale. "Casanova had heard of the girl's beauty and her adoptive father's devilish plans for her. So he swooped in and took her away!"

Naruto gasped like a woman and Sakura almost smacked him for ruining the story at the best part.

"What did Magnus do?" the pink-haired mademoiselle asked the barkeep but it was the gangly boy with the newspaper who answered.

"He searched the entire land for her but she was nowhere to be found. The only evidence left was a letter written in Casanova's own writing, sitting softly upon Valary's pillow. It was signed by Casanova himself and addressed to Magnus."

"Tell 'em what it said!" the drunken fool from the table said, grinning with his few teeth once more.

The bartender nodded in agreement and bent forward. His voice was quiet and everyone strained to hear. "It was a short-story- only about a paragraph long- and it was about Magnus and Valary. It said: "'Magnus Barthen was, politely put, diminutive. When flaccid, his member was little more than the size of a bobbin; and when inflamed, it towered a mere four inches. To compensate, he strove to impress his lady-love, Valary Hale, with a host of other endowments such as a house that was as large as his other fortunes were small. And one day Valary, having suppressed her guttural instincts for far too long, _gave_ herself to the devilishly handsome man Magnus had hired to build the very house she was imprisoned in.'" the whole room howled and hooted in agreement and chaos.

"That's all it said? The architect turned out to be Casanova?" Sakura asked, a little disappointed that it wasn't as excruciatingly enjoyable as she had expected. "It sounds like a story made up by bored housewives."

"No, there was a lot more, but I am a God-fearing man and cannot utter such graphic things out loud. Especially not to a young Lady such as yourself." Then he walked away, holding his head high.

"What does he mean 'graphic things'?" Sakura turned to the drunken fool again, knowing he would at least humor her.

The man hissed at the memory in amusement. "The rest of the letter went into intimate detail about every sexual thing he and Valary did before he took her with him."

"What happened to Valary after they left?"

"Well, they obviously didn't stay together, if that's what you're thinking. Casanova has a reputation to maintain and can't be held down by a woman. But rumor has it that whenever you spend a night with the Outlaw in Black, you wake up a completely different woman in the morning. Some people say she married a farmer and lived a quiet life- others say that she became the promiscuous mistress of the eldest crowned prince and performs 'Guilds' on stage."

Sakura internally cringed at the word. A Guild performance was not something she would rather pretend didn't exist, nothing but overpaid whores performing the stories of pornography. A little too scandalous for Sakura's tastes and surely disrespectful to respectable women everywhere.

The drunken man turned back to his table, drinking from his mug and mumbling to himself as the crowd dispersed and went their own ways once more.

"Casanova, Casanova," ranted a group of three men from their own table, flinging their cups in the air and clanking them together as they sang out the lyrics loudly. "Can't be stopped until he's dead," the three men joined elbows, swinging drunkenly in a circle and kicking up their feet. "You'll come home late one night to find him in your lover's bed. He's silent as the wind- He's as cunning as the crow. If you hear the screams of maidens near you, then you'll know. Casanova, Casanova, has come from the town of Theiv- to find your lover in your bed and ravish her for free. They can't find him, they can't see him- in the shadows of the night. It will cost you more than money if your wife leave's your sight. Casanova, Casanova- comes to take your pride away. He'll steal the pleasure of your woman in the hour you're away. The girls don't stand a chance, they all fall at his feet. Just pray to God that one day you'll never meet- Casanova, Casanova. Pray him you'll never meet!"

* * *

Sakura tried to leave Four Crossings as soon as possible, taking Marquis and Naruto then riding the dirt road they were previously on. Naruto sat upon the tall stallion this time after getting the Haruno to consider taking fair turns rotating between walking and riding for the remainder of the journey. Sakura picked up the pace after leaving when she probably noticed how little progress they actually made. Carmel was still slightly visible in the background and Naruto kept sneaking glances over his shoulder nervously every few minutes.

"Naruto," Sakura called sharply, becoming agitated with the map in her hands of Fire Kingdom. "I already told you, the Governess won't be back until the end of the week. We have nothing to worry about as long as we get far away before that happens. Nobody is coming after us so stop being so jumpy. It's making me nervous." He watched her glare at the map she held up in front of her to inspect. "This thing doesn't make any sense…" she mumbled, then realized she was holding it upside down. She turned it over and sighed, finally able to understand the roads and quickly pinpoint their location.

"What are we going to do about tonight?" he asked, looking forward as far as he could but seeing nothing other than the seemingly endless expanse of the dirt road and forest lining each of its sides.

"What do you mean?" Sakura questioned lightly, moving her finger to trace a certain pathway across the map's illustrations, trying to make a plan of travel.

"It's going to be dark soon. Are we staying in an inn or something, 'cause the next town isn't for another fifteen miles..?"

"We need to use the money we have sparingly. We don't have enough to afford inns or adequate meals. We'll camp out in a clearing by night and stop in a town, if we pass by one each day, to get something to eat." She explained and Naruto's face broke out in helplessness. She felt a little guilty for putting him through all of this, but not enough to make her change her mind about leaving. This was the only way to avoid going to jail (even though they were still in high possibility of being caught after the Governess sent out Recruits to find them. But, she was only going to worry about that when she needed to). "At the end of the week, we'll need to stay off of the roads and travel through the woods. We can't stay in sight when the Recruits start looking for us."

He groaned again, this time at her words instead of hunger. "We didn't sleep at all last night. The least we could do is at least stay at an inn. I'd even sacrifice a few meals in exchange for a comfy bed tonight!"

"The _reason_ we were up all night is because _you_ couldn't shut your mouth and stop complaining! Once we find our new home, you can have a bed of your own…" she gazed at the map again.

"This is your _entire_ fault! _I'm_ not the one who decided to become a pyromaniac overnight!" he flung his arms in the air, slightly startling Marquis to trot a little sideways then back into position by Sakura. "Usually, when people want to move, they don't burn the place down! They just pick a new place to live!"

Sakura ignored his pestering of her incendiary tactics.

"This is just like when we were twelve and you bullied me into setting the Governess's barn on fire! I got twenty lashings for that!"

"Then you shouldn't have gotten caught."

"Or the time you purposely gave the banker's dog chocolate!"

"It wouldn't stop barking at me." She said calmly, tempering his contentious idea with her own. "It never barked at anyone else but me. It was war."

"Then when you kept scaring off all of the suitors that came to marry you- until your grandmother chose one for you! I got blamed for that, ya' know! Everybody said I was a bad influence on young girls! Nobody with daughters would let me deliver groceries or goods to their homes!"

Sakura laughed raucously, folding the map and tucking it in the ruck-sack's pocket under her basket. She patted the wicker affectionately. "You can't deny that they were all bastards! I had to do something- I wasn't going to marry some guy that didn't even know that a woman wants. They were all man-children."

Well, now you got us in deeper than we ever have been before. Congratulations!" he yelled sarcastically. "All because you didn't want to marry Arion!"

"Would you rather I stayed in Carmel and been miserable for the rest of my life?" she asked and Naruto didn't know what to say, choosing to stay silently brooding until they found somewhere to camp for the night.

"I'm traversing across the entire Kingdom with a woman who doesn't even know how to read a map or build a campfire." Naruto mumbled to himself as they sat under the stars. He tended the embers of the fire with a long stick and leaned back on a rock, staring over the flames at the very woman he spoke about.

"I know how to set a fire." She stuck her tongue out at him, rubbing her arms and huddling closer to the flame.

"Of course you do. That's what got us into this mess in the first place." He pointed out sarcastically, referring to her home that was now nothing more than ashes, and she groaned.

"Don't start with this again. I'm not going to try and explain myself anymore. The past is the past and all we can to now is worry about the future."

Naruto eyed her suspiciously, watching as she diddled with something in the pocket of her right boot. Her fingers rubbed against the leather over the form of the object in its confines and she stared off into space. She didn't even seem to notice that she was doing it. He shook his head, blaming her actions on her weirdness.

"I'm going to bed." Naruto grumbled again.

Sakura nodded, hoping he would be in higher spirits once he awoke in the morning. Once they got to the next town, Naruto would be able to fill his stomach and forget his troubles. How did that saying go? All sorrows are less with bread? Either way, she was sure she would abandon him if he kept acting like such a nagging woman. But Naruto was the kind of person who ranted for a little while then forgot about his anger almost as quickly. He would be back to his usual, slightly perverse but doting self in no time.

After only a few minutes, Naruto was snoring lightly and sprawled across the entirety of his blanket, his arms flung in different directions and legs settled widely with his mouth open. She took a few minutes to relax in the silence and throw pebbles at his sleeping form- ten points for every head-shot and fifteen points for every finger- until she was sure she felt something strange.

The hairs on the back of her neck stood, only signaling that someone must have been watching her. She turned to scan the woods surrounding their small campsite, finding nothing in the shadows of the trees. She squinted harder, trying to force her eyes to focus into the depths of the forest. But, just as she was sure she could make out the silhouette of a person in the darkness, Naruto let out a loud, high-pitched noise from the back of his throat as he slept- causing Sakura to jump and whirl her head around to find the course of the noise.

As soon as she turned back to the forest, the silhouette was gone.

* * *

"Well, this is just _great_!" Sakura startled awake, hearing Naruto's voice cutting through the morning. She wiped her eyes, trying to remember ever falling asleep. "Just fucking incredible, let me tell you!" he went on, kicking a pot on the ground that was somehow out of the ruck-sack and lying in the dirt next to the Uzumaki's sleeping spot. He howled in pain and lifted his foot, jumping up and down while holding his hurt toe.

"What are you so riled-up about?" Sakura rasped out, her throat dry from sleeping in the chilly air of the night.

"Look around you!" Naruto gestured wildly with his arms to the campsite around them, and she did look. Their belongings were skewed everywhere, as if thrown around and searched through. "This wouldn't have happened if we had gone to an inn, like I said we should!" he stomped a few steps forward then hovered there for a moment in seething anger before turning back around and repeating the motions again. "Damn raccoons!" he threw his arms in the air again and screeched his curses into the sky, shaking his fist at the innocent clouds overhead.

Sakura rose, rubbing the back of her neck and glancing around for Marquis. When she saw that he was nesting quietly in the tall grass behind her, chewing obliviously, she turned back to the mess before her. "Naruto.." she had to clear her throat to force through the meek sound it had made. "I don't think it was raccoons that did this…" she stooped to pick up the pan the blond had kicked. There were no prints on the ground or signs of any animals other than Marquis. Besides the fact that a raccoon wouldn't bother with a ruck-sack filled with clothes, pans, and other useless accessories. Any animal would have been able to smell that there wasn't any food in the sack and they wouldn't have been able to move such a heavy pan so far across the site….and none of their belongings were missing. "It looks like someone was searching for something." She threw the pan into the sack again, cleaning the clearing and tying the ruck back onto Marquis's flanks.

"Sakura," Naruto put his hand on her shoulder. "If it was _someone_ instead of _something_…." He seemed at a loss for words. "If it was bandits, they would have killed us in our sleep." He walked ahead and gathered his sleeping things before walking through the tall grass of the clearing and back onto the dirt road they had been traveling on. Carmel town, as well as Four Crossings, was far behind them now as Sakura lifted herself onto Marquis, straddling the horse.

"Unless they're smarter than bandits." Sakura mumbled to herself, commanding the horse forward to follow the blond Uzumaki and trying to ignore the same ominous rustling of leaves behind her from deep in the forest again.

She clutched her basket tighter to her chest until she couldn't feel the pin-pricking feeling on the back of her neck anymore.

Naruto held the map up, maneuvering his finger in and out of routes to possibly take.

"We're close to Stymie Town," he smiled, giving Sakura a suggestive look. "Don't you have something there that you have been putting off for quite a while?" he snickered behind his hand like a little girl.

"Yes," she fingered her boot pocket again idly, wondering off into spaces of thought. "I have some unsettled business to attend to." She admitted, picturing the awaiting man's face in her head ever so clearly. She tried not to be too disappointed about settling old scores with bygone companions- especially if that companion was the one and only Neji Hyuuga. She only hoped that his little posse of bandits weren't trailing him like they usually did.

"He owes you money, doesn't he?" Naruto asked innocently, not really understanding what he was about to get himself into.

"We owe each other many things."


	4. note

I have reviewed all of my stories that are unfinished. So I am going to have to put some on HIATUS until I can finish them one by one.

First, I am finishing Natural Born Killers and then either Monogamist or Method to Madness. I'm not sure yet on the last two.

This is for the Outcasts will be on Hiatus until Natural Born Killers is finished and maybe even until one of the others is too. I don't know. But I'm trying to write five stories at once and it's not working.

I will be keeping While You Were Out running, though, because it is a short-story drabble and doesn't really get in my way :D

I might even re-do Monogamist and Method to Madness but I don't know about that either yet….

If you have any comments or questions, _please_ let me know so I can try and answer them or work with them.

plus, this will give me time to beta. So, if you need a beta, feel free to read my beta profile and see if you would like to work with me :) I'm kinda strict though, as you could probably guess haha!

I will post this on any other stories that are paused from this point on. But i only have two more chapters of Natural Born Killers to post so it won't be that long until i start them up again. But the only problem is that it has been so long since i started Monogamist and MtM and i have lost interest in their plots. They seem vague now that i am older and a better writer. But i will soldier on for you haha! :)))


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